Refrigerated container with vertically movable doors



Oct. 23, 1962 F. G. PECK 3,059,985

REFRIGERATED CONTAINER WITH VERTICALLY MOVABLE DOORS Filed April 21,1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR. I /4 page: 6 Pee/1 1 Oct. 23, 1962 F.G. PECK REFRIGERATED CONTAINER WITH VERTICALLY MOVABLE DOORS Filed April21, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 23, 1962 F. G. PECK REFRIGERATEDCONTAINER WITH VERTICALLY MOVABLE DOORS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 21,1960 INVENTOR. fielerz'c 6", 766/?- BY k 5% I p I aawrys:

United States Patent Ofilice Patented Get. 23, 1S62 3,059,985REFRIGERATED QGNTAINER WITH VERTI- CAIJlLY MOVABLE DOGRS Frederic G.Peck, Greenville, Mich, assignor to Ranney Refrigerator (:ornpany,Greenvilie, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed Apr. 21, 1960, Ser.No. 23,827 4 Claims. (Cl. 312-279) This invention relates generally torefrigerated containers such as refrigerators and freezers and moreparticularly to a refrigerated container having one or more doors whichmove vertically between open and closed positions.

Most refrigerators and freezers, of both household and commercialvariety have hinged doors which swing either about a horizontal axis ora vertical axis and require considerable clearance space in front of therefrigerator or freezer through which the door must move during openingand closing. This is objectionable since this space can then not be putto any useful purpose and in installations such as supermarkets, thistype of space is very Valuable. For these reasons, a refrigeratedcontainer having vertically movable doors which require very littlemovement in a horizontal direction during opening and closing of thedoors is desirable. It is an object of this invention, therefore, toprovide a refrigerated container with vertically movable doors which arereadily opened and closed by application of a small and substantiallyconstant force to the door. It has been found that doors which open andclose in this manner are objectionable if they are difiicult to moveduring any portion of their travel between open and closed positions orif they are spring-biased so that they tend to move by themselves out ofthe operators hand at any time during their opening or closing movement.In other words, the primary object of this invention is to divide a doormounting which during opening and closing movement has a desirable feelfor the operator.

A further object of this invention is to provide a parallel linkassembly for mounting a vertically movable door on a refrigeratedcontainer so that the door is readily moved, with a desirable feel forthe operator, between open and closed positions.

Further objects, features and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent from a consideration of the following description, the appendedclaims and the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerated container provided witha vertically movable door mounted in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the container shown in FIG. 1,with some parts broken away for purposes of clarity;

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal ture shown in FIG. 2, looking along the line3-4;

FIGURE 3A is an enlarged view of the portion of FIG. 3 enclosed withinthe circle 3A;

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic side View of a refrigerated containerprovided with a modified form of the door mounting of this invention;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of a refrigerated container havinganother modified form of door-mounting of this invention;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the parallel link assemblies employedin the refrigerated container shown in FIG. 5 for mounting the doors onthe container;

FIGURE 7 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of the refrigeratedcontainer shown in FIG. 5 provided with the vertically movable doors ofthis invention; and

FIGURES 8 and 9 are side elevational views of the sectional view of thestructel container shown in FIG. 5, showing the vertically movable doorsin closed and open positions, respectively.

With reference to the drawing, the refrigerated container of thisinvention, indicated generally at It in the form of a home refrigerator,is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 as including insulated side, rear andtop walls 12, 14 and 16, respectively. The front side 13 of thecontainer 12 is formed with an enlarged opening .20 which is adapted tobe closed by a vertically movable door 24. The container 12 isillustrated as being provided with a lower storage area and access tothis storage area may be provided by a pair of sliding trays or boxes 28and 3t which are latched in closed positions by latches (not shown)which may be released by operation of floor pedals 31 and 33 mounted onthe lower end of the container 10. A refrigerated section 32 of thecontainer Til) located between the upper opening 20 and the lower boxes28 and St is closed by a short hinged door 35.

A pair of parallel link assemblies 34 are mounted on the side walls 12and connected to opposite ends of the door 24 for mounting the door forup and down movement between open and closed positions. Each linkassembly 3 includes an upper link which has one end connected by a pivot42 to the container side wall 12 and the opposite end connected by apivot 44 to one end of the door 24 at a position intermediate the topand bottom sides of the door. A link 46, disposed below thecorresponding link 40 is connected intermediate its ends by a pivot 43to a container side wall 12 and. is connected at one end by a bar 51 tothe door 24. The bar extends through the door and is connected at itsopposite end to the other link 46 so as to insure a substantially unisonup and down movement of the links 46.

A cable 52 is connected at one end to the opposite end of the link 46and extends downwardly from the link 46 along the container side wall 12for connection of its opposite end to a spring 56 mounted on the sidewall 12. If desired, the springs 56 may be connected in a suitablemanner to insure an equalization at all times of the spring forcesapplied to the links 46. End caps 58 are mounted on opposite ends of thedoor 24 for covering the links 40' and 46 and side panels 60 are mountedon the side walls 12 for the same purpose. Each side panel 60 carries aplurality of wedge shape brackets 62 on its inner side which slide intosimilarly shaped receptacles 64 on the side wall 12 to attach the panel60* to the wall 12 when the panel 60 is moved downwardly relative to theside wall 12 so as to force the brackets 62 downwardly into thereceptacles 64. The panel 60 is then in a position spaced from the wall12.

Each of the cables 52 is arranged relative to the link 46 to which it isconnected so that when the door 24 is in its closed position shown inFIG. 2, the cable 52 is angularly spaced with respect to a line,indicated at 66, which is perpendicular to a radius for the axis ofrotation of the link '46 and extends through the point 53 of connectionof cable 52 to link 46. This axis of rotation extends through the pivotmember 33. Furthermore, during movement of the door 24 from its closedposition shown in FIG. 2, to an upwardly moved substantially openposition, indicated at Y, the angular spacing between the cable 52 andthe line 66, is continually decreased. This is illustrated in FIG. 2which shows that angle A between the cable 52 and the line 66 when thedoor is closed is substantially greater than when the door is inposition X in which it exerts a maximum resistance to opening movement.As the door 24 is moved further in an opening direction, the anglebetween the cable 52 and the line 66 continues to decrease until at somelocation of the door 24, shown in broken lines at Y in FIG. 2, the

cable 52 is perpendicular to a radius for the axis of rotation of thelink 46 passing through point 53. Stated otherwise, the moment arm forthe pulling force exerted by the cable 52 increases as the door is movedfrom position X toward position Y.

The rate and preloading of the springs 56 are chosen so that the tensileforces exerted on the cables 52 by the springs 56 during openingmovement of the door 24 toward the position shown in broken lines at Yin FIG. 2 decrease at a rate relative to the rate of decrease of angle Asuch that the moment, consisting of the product of the component of thespring force lying on the line 66 and the distance between pivot 48 andpoint 53, exerted on the links 46 by the springs 56 is substantiallyconstant during movement of the door 24 between the closed position andits broken line substantially open position shown at Y in FIG. 2. As aresult, the lifting force which must be applied to the door 24 to moveit from its closed position to a substantially open position is alsosubstantially constant and the springs 56 are of a selected strengthsuch that this lifting force is very small. The distance between thecenter of gravity of the door 24 and the pivot 48 varies but this iscompensated for by the fact that the distance between the lifting forceapplied to the door and the pivot 48 varies in the same manner. It hasbeen found that opening of the door 24 under these circumstances,namely, by application of a very small and constant lifting force to thedoor 24, is a pleasing experience and is much more desirable to theperson opening the door 24 than when the required force is a variableone. If the door 24- must be moved further upwardly from the position Y,to the full open position Z for example, to provide complete access tothe upper shelf in the refrigerator 10, the added force which must beapplied to the door 24- since the force of the spring 56 is decreasingand so is the distance perpendicular to the cable 52 between the cableand the pivot 4-8, is not under most circumstances objectionable, sinceit is more of a pushing than a lifting force because of the position ofthe door 24. The force of the springs 56 and the frictional forces inthe link assemblies 34 which resist rotation of the assemblies aresuflicient in substantially all moved positions of the door 24 tomaintain it in that position against the force of gravity.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 3a, the door 24 is provided on its inner sidewith a sealing gasket 7%} which extends around the inner side of thedoor so that it will engage the front side 18 of the container 14 at aposition surrounding the front opening 20 and inwardly of the frontslots 72 which are formed between the side walls 12 and the panels 60and through which the link assemblies 34 extend. The gasket 70 ispreferably of the type which includes a hollow flexible body 72 formedof a plastic or rubber material, and having a member 74 which possessesmagnetic properties disposed therein. A foldable bellows portion 76 isformed integral at one end with the body 72 and at the opposite end witha base 78 which is suitably secured to the inner side of the door 24.The bellows portion 76 is foldable and unfoldable to permit movement ofthe body 72 toward and away from the base 78 to insure a seal betweenthe front side of the container 10 and the inner side of the door 24when the door is closed, since the metallic portion of the container 10surrounding the door opening 26 attracts the magnetic member 74 so as topull the body 72 tightly against the front side of the container 10.When the door 24 is to be opened, the parallel link assemblies 34provide for an initial movement of the door 24 in a somewhat horizontaldirection away from the front side of the container 10 so as toinitially disengage the body 72 from the con tainer 10. i l 1 In themodified container 10a shown in FIG. 4, the opening a in the front sideof the container has a horizontal median divider strip or mullion 80extending thereacross and a pair of doors 82 and 84 are mounted on thecontainer 10a for closing the portions of the opening 20a above andbelow the mullion strip 80, respectively. A pair of parallel linkassemblies (only one of which is shown) are secured to opposite ends ofthe door 82 and to opposite side walls of the container 10a for mountingthe door 82 on the container 10a for up and down movement between openand closed positions, in the same way the door 24 is mounted on thecontainer 10. Cables 88 are connected to the parallel link assemblies 86and to springs 90 secured to the container side walls for assisting inthe opening of the door 82. The cables 88 are arranged relative to theparallel link assemblies 86 in the same manner that the cables 52 arearranged relative to the link assemblies 34, and the springs 90 are of arate and a preloading as previously described, so that a substantiallyconstant force of small magnitude is required to move the door 82 fromits closed to its open position illustrated in broken lines in FIG. 4.The springs 90 and the friction in the link asemblies 86 are sufficientto maintain the door 82 in its open position without the application ofany additional force to the door 82.

A pair of parallel link assemblies 92 (only one of which is shown) areconnected to opposite ends of the door 84 and are pivotally mounted onopposite side walls of the container 10a for mounting the door 84 on thecontainer. The door 84 is movable downwardly from its closed position toits open position shown in broken lines in FlG. 4. A cable 94 is securedto each of the parallel link assemblies 92 and to a spring 96 mounted onthe container side wail for normally urging the door 84 toward its upperclosed position. The cable 96 extends over a pulley 93 and is positionedrelative to the parallel link assembly 92 so that a substantiallyconstant force is required to move the door 84- from its closed positionto its open position and vice versa.

It should be noted that the springs 96 operate in a reverse manner tothe springs previously described since during opening movement of thedoor 84 the springs 96 are extended, rather than contracted, so that thept1liing forces exerted on the cables 9 by the springs 96 are increasedrather than decreased during opening movement of the door 84. For thisreason, each cable 94 is arranged so that it exerts a force which isperpendicular to the link 91 to which it is attached in the closedposition of the door. As the door is moved toward its open position, theperpendicular distance between the portion of the cable 94- whichextends between the pulley 9S and the link 91 and the pivot support forthe link 91 on the container 12a continually decreases. Each spring 96is preloaded and its rate is selected so that the pulling force exertedby the cable increases at substantially the same rate that its momentarm relative to the pivot support for link 91 decreased. As a result,the total force required of the person moving the door 84 between itsopen and closed positions is substantially constant as is the case withthe doors 24 and 32 previously described.

It can thus be seen that the doors 82 and 84 are mounted similarly tothe mounting of the door 24 so that the doors are movable up and downbetween open and closed positions by the application of substantiallyconstant forces thereto. In each case, a torsion bar, or the like, suchas the bar indicated at 50 in FIG. 2, extends through the door andconnects the parallel link assem blies to insure a unison operation ofthe assemblies and to preclude any twisting of the door during up anddown movement. The gaskets 70 are provided on the doors 32 and S4 forproviding the necessary seal between these doors and the container 10ain the closed positions of the doors.

In the modified container 10b shown in FIGS. 5-9, inclusive, the opening20b in the front side of the container is provided with a mullion strip102, like the mullion strip shown in PEG. 4, and a pair of doors 104 and106 are mounted on the container 10b for closing the parts of theopening 2% above and below the mullion strip 102, re-

spectively. Since the container b is identical in all respects to thecontainer 10, except for the provision of the mullion strip 102, likeparts on the containers are indicated by like numerals, with thenumerals on the container 1% having the letter sufiix b added thereto.

Two parallel link assemblies 110 are mounted on opposite ends of theupper door 104 and are secured to opposite side walls 12b of thecontainer 10b. The parallel link assembly 110 includes a lower linkmember 112 which is secured intermediate its ends by a pivot 114 to thecontainer side wall 12b. At one end, the link 112 is secured by atorsion bar 116 to one end of the door 104, adjacent the lower sidethereof, and the torsion bar 116 is also connected to the link 112 inthe assembly 110 at the opposite end of the door 104. At its oppositeend, the link 11?. is connected to one end of a cable 118 which extendsdownwardly from the link 112 along the side Wall 12b and is trainedabout a pulley 120 mounted on the container rear wall 14b. The oppositeend of the cable 118 is connected at 122 to a spring 124 which isconnected at 126 to the container rear wall. A similar cable 128 for theparallel link assembly 110 on the opposite side of the container 10b istrained about a pulley 130 on the container rear wall 10b and thencearound the pulley 120 for connection at 122 to the spring 124. With thisarrangement, the forces exerted on the parallel link assemblies 110 bythe spring 124 are equalized.

Each parallel link assembly 110 also includes an upper link member 132which is mounted at its upper end on a pivot 134 carried by thecontainer side Wall 12b and is connected by a pivot 136 at its oppositeend to one end of the door 104 intermediate the upper and lower side ofthe door 104. When the door 104 is moved up and down, the parallel linkassemblies 1110 act to maintain it in substantially a vertical positionat all times.

The door 106 is mounted on the container 10b by a pair of parallel linkassemblies 140 connected to opposite ends of the door and mounted onopposite sides of the container 10b. Each of the parallel linkassemblies 140 consists of a lower link 142 which is pivotally connectedby means of a pivot 144 at one end thereof to the container side wall12b and by a torsion bar 146 at its opposite end to one end of the door106 at a position adjacent the lower side of the door. The assembly 140also includes an upper link 148 which is pivotally connected at one endby a pivot member 150 to a container side wall 12b and at its oppositeend by a pivot member 152 to one end of the door 106 intermediate theupper and lower ends thereof. The link 148 is rovided intermediate itsends with an upwardly projecting ear 154 to which one end of a cable 156is connected. The cable 156 extends upwardly from the car 154 and istrained about a pulley 160 mounted on a container side wall 12b, andfrom the pulley 160, the cable 156 extends downwardly along the sidewall 12b. The cable 156 is then trained about a pulley 162 mounted onthe back side of the container 108 and has its opposite end attached at164 to one end of a spring 166 which is attached at its opposite end 168to the container rear wall 14b. The parallel link assembly 140 at theopposite side of the container 1% is provided with a similar cable 170which extends downwardly along the side of the container and is trainedabout a pulley 172 on the container rear wall and thence around thecable 162 for attachment at the point 164 to the spring 166. With thisarrangement, the spring 166 exerts equal forces on the cables 156 and170.

It is to be noted that in each of the assemblies 140, a line extendingbetween the pivots 150 and 152 is parallel to the pivots 144 and 146 sothat a true parallel link assembly is provided even though the link 148is bent intermediate its ends. The link 148 is of the shape illustratedso that the car 154 which connects the cable 156 or 170 to the link isin a predetermined position with respect to the cable 170. This positionis such that the relation- Ship between the cable and the parallel linkassembly is the same relationship described between the cable 52 and theparallel link assembly 34 in FIG. 1. This relationship is also true foreach of the parallel link assemblies and is the reason why each link 112is of an angular shape. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the angle C betweenthe cable 128 and a line 171 perpendicular to a radius for the axisabout which the link member 112 rotates, which axis extends through thepivot member 114, and extending through the point 173 of connection ofthe cable to the link is such that when the door 104 is initially movedfrom its closed position toward an open position, only a portion of thetotal pulling force exerted on the cable 128 by the spring 124 isettective to assist the door movement. In other words, the component ofthe cable force which is parallel to line 171 is the only portion of thecable force effective to rotate the link 112. This component continuallyincreases, in relation to the component perpendicular thereto, but atthe same time the total cable pulling force is decreasing because thespring 124 is contracting. The rate and preloading of the spring isselected so that the component of the force of the cable parallel toline 171 is substantially constant. As a result, a small constant forceexerted by the operator on the door 104 is effective to move the door104 from its closed position shown in FIG. 8 to its broken line positionshown in FIG. 9. Slight additional force is required to continue theupward movement of the door 104 to its full open position shown in FIG.9. The spring 124 and the friction in the parallel link assemblies 110maintain the door 104 in an open position without the application offurther force to the door. Likewise, when the door 104 is being returnedto its closed position shown in FIG. 8, the moment exerted on the doorby the spring 124 is substantially constant so that application of aconstant force to the door is eltective to close it.

As shown in FIG. 8, the angle D between the end of the cable which isattached to the link 148 and a line 190 which is perpendicular to aradius of the axis of rotation of the link 148 and extends through thepoint 175 of connection of the cable 170 and link 148, is such that onlya component of the total force exerted by the cable 170 on the link 148is effective to urge the door 106 upwardly. During movement of the door106 between its closed position shown in FIG. 8 and its substantiallyopen position shown in broken lines in FIG. 9, the angle D progressivelydecreases until it is nonexistent in the broken line position of thedoor 106. Consequently, the component of the cable force is continuallybeing increased and the rate and pre-loading of the spring 166 areselected so that the total force of the spring is at the same time beingdecreased at substantially the same rate. Consequently, a small constantforce applied to the door 106 is effective to move it from its closedposition to its open position. The friction in parallel link assemblies140 is suflicient to maintain the door in an open position when added tothe spring force on the cables tending to hold the door open.

"In one embodiment of the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 5-9,inclusive, the spring 124 is pre-loaded to fourteen and one-quarterpounds and is loaded to twentyone and a quarter pounds in the closedposition of the door 104. The spring 166 is pre-loaded to abouttwentyseven pounds and closing of the door 106 loads the spring 166 tothirty-eight pounds. The moment arm for each of the cables 118 and 128relative to the pivots 114 in the closed position of door 104 is abouttwo and onequarter inches and the moment arm for the center of mass ofthe door 104, which weighs about ten pounds, is about five andfive-eighths inches. The moment arm for each of the cables 156 and 170,in the closed position of door 106, relative to the pivots 150, is abouttwo and a half inches, and the moment arm for the center of mass of thedoor 106, which weighs about sixteen pounds is about seven andseven-sixteenths inches. The spring 124 compresses about five andthree-sixteenths inches during opening of the door 194 and the spring106 compresses about five and thirteen-sixteenths inches during openingof the door 106. About a six pound pull is required on each door toinitially break the seal between the gasket 70 and the container 10, sothe initial opening force required on each door must be increased tothis extent.

IFI'OIH the above description, it is seen that this invention providesrefrigerated containers 10, 10a and 10b, which are provided with variousforms of vertically movable doors. In the container 10, a singlevertically movable door is provided which can readily be moved betweenopen and closed positions without occupying at any time a substantialamount of space in front of the container 10. The doors 82 and 84 on thefront side of the container 10a are likewise readily moved between openand closed positions with these doors moving in opposite directions toopen positions. The doors 104 and 1% are similarly mounted but they movein the same direction, namely, upwardly, to open positions. In allcases, the forces tending to move the door in a direction opposite tothe force of gravity thereon are located so that only a smallsubstantially constant force is required to open a door.

It will be understood that the specific constructions of therefrigerated containers with vertically movable doors which are hereindisclosed and described are presented for purposes of explanation andillustration and are not intended to indicate limits of the invention,the scope of which is defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A cabinet structure for a refrigerator or the like having a back walland laterally spaced side walls defining a container area and a frontopening subdivided horizontally into upper and lower front openingportions, the side walls being shallower, considered in the frontto-backdirection, in the area of the upper opening portion than in the area ofthe lower opening portion, a pair of doors, one for each of said openingportions, a pair of parallel link assemblies, one link assemblyconnected to each .end of each door, said link assemblies for both doorscomprising links extending angularly upward and rearwardly from thedoors when the doors are closed and being pivoted at their inner ends tothe cabinet structure and at their outer ends to the doors, whereby bothdoors move forwardly and upwardly in moving away from the closedposition.

2. A cabinet structure as defined in claim 1 wherein the front edges ofsaid side walls in the area of the upper opening portion are parallel tobut rearwardly offset with respect to the front edges of the sidewallsin the area of the lower opening portion, whereby when the doors areclosed the upper door is correspondingly ofiset rearwardly with respectto the lower door.

3. A cabinet structure as defined in claim 1 wherein the front edges ofsaid side walls in the area of the upper opening portion are parallel tobut rearwardly offset with respect to the front edges of the sidewallsin the area of the lower opening portion, whereby when the doors areclosed the upper door is correspondingly offset rearwardly with respectto the lower door, and separate counterba-lancing springs for said doorsconnected to said links in such manner that as the springs relax duringopening movements of the doors, the links move to positions more nearlyperpendicular to the direction of exertion of opening force thereupon,whereby the effective proportional component of the remaining springforce transmitted to the doors in an opening direction increases duringopening movement of the doors, and vice versa.

4. In a refrigerated container having an opening in one side, ahorizontal mullion trip dividing said opening into upper and lowerportions, a pair of door members for said portions, a pair of parallellink assemblies connected to opposite ends of each of said door membersand pivotally mounted on said container so that said door member ismovable between a first upright position in substantially horizontalalignment with and closing said door opening and a second uprightposition displaced vertically from said first position, each of saiddoor members being movable upwardly to an open position, each of saidassemblies including a pair of parallel link members, a cable connectedto one of the links in each assembly, said cable being arranged so thata pulling force thereon i transmitted to the link assembly therefor in adirection to move the door on said link assembly upwardly, spring meansconnected to each of said cables so as to exert a pulling force thereon,said spring means being connected to said cables and said cables beingconnected to said links at positions such that said spring means exertssubstantially constant moments on said door members urging said doormembers upwardly during movement thereof between said positions.

References (Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS183,618 Adrianson Oct. 24, 1876 1,109,723 White Sept. 8, 1914 1,432,285Gearhart Oct. 17, 1922 2,038,035 Friedrich Apr. 21, 1936 2,076,835 YoungApr. 13, 1937 2,463,250 Curtiss Mar. 1, 1949 2,483,968 Ecklund Oct. 4,1949 2,869,954 Kesling Jan. 20, 1959 2,932,404 Vershbow Apr. 12, 1960FOREIGN PATENTS 318,747 Switzerland Mar. 15, 1957

